On the incredible stage of the U.S Open women’s singles final, the 19-year-old from the Toronto suburbs took down the most daunting opponent in the sport, pulling off a remarkable straight-sets win (6-3, 7-5) that makes her the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title.

When the performance was over, when Andreescu had survived a furious rally from her legendary opponent after she held a 5-1 lead in the second set, with Arthur Ashe Stadium roaring and shaking in favour of her American opponent, the Canadian dropped her racquet in disbelief. After a quick hug, she collapsed on her back in the middle of the court. It had been a brave, fearless display of tennis, with Andreescu repeatedly blasting balls deep into the court, forcing the most powerful player in women’s tennis to play defence. Williams had lost only three services games in six matches at the U.S. Open. Andreescu broke her serve six times on Saturday.

“This year has been a dream come true,” Andreescu said at the trophy ceremony. Asked what she had overcome on Saturday, she said, “definitely the crowd.” Then she offered a most Canadian response: “I know you guys wanted Serena to win,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

Handed the trophy, she could be heard asking which side was the front. It was yet another sign how new all this is to her.

She would say afterward that, when the crowd was roaring and Williams seemed on the verge of making a miraculous comeback, she “had some doubts.”

“I mean, it was expected,” Andreescu said. “She’s a champion. That’s what champions do. She’s done that many, many times throughout her career. But I just tried to stay as composed as I could. It’s hard to just block everything out, but I think I did a pretty good job of that.”

It took almost no time at all for the reliably unflappable Andreescu to show that on this stage, the biggest possible one in tennis, she would remain utterly unflapped. She hung in the points in the first game of the match, with Wlliams serving, making her work hard right from the jump. Williams eventually double-faulted to drop the game, handing Andreescu a quick early advantage.

Bianca Andreescu of Canada returns a shot against Serena Williams of the US during the Women’s Singles Finals match at the 2019 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on September 7, 2019.TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

As the set wore on, with the two women slugging the ball back and forth, Andreescu utterly refused to be intimated. She served brilliantly, and kept bashing deep balls that had Williams on her heels, followed by rocket forehands to finish off points. More importantly, she stayed in points — and games — enough to allow Williams to make mistakes. The 23-time Grand Slam champ made 14 unforced errors in the first set, to just six from the player doing this kind of thing for the first time.

Andreescu wasn’t quite as sharp with her serves in the second set, but her opponent dropped a level, too. All of a sudden all the pressure was on Williams, who was now a set down in a Slam final for the fourth straight time. She had lost the previous three. And though Williams seemed to get worse as the match wore on, with Andreescu taking that big second-set lead, the woman who has won six U.S. Open titles fought back, capitalizing on, finally, some shaky play from the opponent almost 20 years her junior. Williams won three straight games to level the set at five games each, and Ashe was going absolutely wild. At one point, when Williams had just hit a winner, Andreescu put both fingers in her ears to block out the noise.

But just as suddenly as it had started to unravel, Andreescu found her poise again. A couple of booming first serves helped her turn the set to 6-5 in her favour, and Williams needed to hold her serve just to stay in the match. Andreescu hit a beautiful inside-out forehand down the line to get herself two points from the championship, then a Williams shanked backhand gave the Canadian two championship points. Williams saved one with an ace, but yet another deep return, this one a bomb of a forehand, ended the match. Williams could barely get a racquet on it, and Bianca Andreescu, born in Canada and the child of Romanian immigrants, was the U.S. Open champion. Williams’ previous two opponents, in the quarters and semis, had won a combined 59 points. Andreescu, in the final, won 77.

Asked what she told herself in the break, while up 6-5, Andreescu said: “I told myself to put the ball in the goddamn court.” A little later, when she was asked about being a major champion, and making a reality her dreams of winning such a title — she has said she wrote herself a pretend U.S. Open when she was a little kid, Andreescu, finally, let the moment catch up to her. “It’s so crazy, man,” she said, and then dropped her head in her hands and cried a little. Just like on the court, though, she gathered herself quickly. She was told she could have a moment. “No, I’m good,” she said, cheerful again. The kid really knows how to get sorted in a hurry.

“She played an unbelievable match,” said Williams, now 0-for-4 in her recent attempts to push her Slam total to 24. But she also said that she didn’t play her best tennis, that “Serena didn’t show up,” and she said she has to figure out why that keeps happening in major finals.

The trip to the final for Andreescu had been adventurous.

Bianca Andreescu of Canada is congratulated by Serena Williams of the United States after winning the Women’s Singles final match on day thirteen of the 2019 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 07, 2019 in the Queens borough of New York City.Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

In the fourth round, facing unseeded American Taylor Townsend, who had knocked off the reigning Wimbledon champ Simona Halep, Andreescu had to overcome her opponent’s unorthodox game and a well-lubricated late-night crowd that was loudly pro-Townsend. After winning the first set easily, Andreescu dropped the second before gathering herself and taking the third set decisively.

In the quarters, it was Elise Mertens, the 25th seed, who took a set off Andreescu, this time the first one of the match as she took advantage of several of the young Canadian’s mistakes. But as she had against Townsend, Andreescu sorted herself out, went back on offence, and took the two sets she needed.

Serena Williams of the United States is awarded her runner up trophy after being defeated by Bianca Andreescu of Canada during their Women’s Singles final match on day thirteen of the 2019 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 07, 2019 in the Queens borough of New York City.Elsa/Getty Images

Then came the semi-final, and a chance against 13th-seed Belinda Bencic to become the first Canadian, man or woman, to make the U.S. Open final. Once again, Andreescu was not at her sharpest, but once again she managed to do what she needed to win. She won just enough of the key points — in a first-set tiebreak and then in a five-game run in the second set when she turned a 2-5 hole into a 7-5 win. Bencic said afterward, simply and accurately, that she lost because Andreescu had played better in the big points.

It’s a trait that has defined her rookie season. It did again on Saturday.

After her post-match press conference, Andreescu took part as her coach, Sylvain Bruneau, was presented with his trophy, a smaller version of hers. He held it facing the wrong way for photos. He apologized, saying he wasn’t used to holding trophies.

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